28/10/2018
Guest Lecture on 25th October, 2018
MS. Elizabeth Jane had conducted a guest lecture for the students of first and third Semester BA JEP. She had spoken on various aspects of Television Journalism, in particular Anchoring, Scripting, Interviewing and Handling g Breaking news.
She delved deep into the scope and challenges in Anchoring providing many interesting anecdotes from her own vast experience.
While talking about Anchoring and interviewing she specifically laid stress on balanced news reporting. She highlighted the need to revamp the current news broadcasting style which resorts to hysterics and sensational journalism.
Since handling breaking news was her repertoire, she spoke about the various challenges associated with ad libbing. Again she stressed on the need for balanced perspective and objectivity.
MS. Elizabeth also answered a volley of questions from students who were also keen to learn about other forms of media such as advertising.
She thus briefly spoke on the various types of advertising jobs from conceptualisation, creative writing to actual production and it's challenges.
The guest lecture was a wonderful learning experience for students. And was indeed an enriching experience listening to a versatile journalist who has delved in various media roles.
Profile of Elizabeth Jane PJ
Elizabeth Jane combines over 14 years of experience in a range of roles across media sectors. She has been a journalist for the bulk of her career, covering news from the field as a reporter, while also offering analytical perspective on developments from the studio, as a Senior Anchor. She joined India’s national broadcaster- Doordarshan News in 2002, when the then government piloted a rare experiment to hire young talent through an unbiased nationwide selection process using a headhunting agency, and picked the “Golden 21”. She worked on a performance-based contract, in New Delhi, and went on to be awarded the ‘Best Anchor’, that year, later getting to host her own show- Late Edition. She has covered a series of significant events, including then PM Vajpayee’s historic visit to Pakistan in 2004, Dy PM LK Advani’s visit to Thailand and Singapore, and also accompanied Dr. Manmohan Singh on his visit to The Hague, for the EU-India summit, when the UPA took charge.
She moved to London, in 2005, to work with the BBC World Service (Hindi), as a radio Producer. She created a series of special reports on topics ranging from Madrasas in the UK to the fate of Indian doctors in Britain and issues related to married and abandoned women from Asia in the UK. She returned to TV, as a founding member of CNN IBN in 2006, working as Senior Anchor/ Correspondent, under the editorship of Rajdeep Sardesai. She was part of the National Desk, reporting to Diptosh Majumdar. Marriage took her to Italy in 2007, where she taught English to speakers of foreign languages. She returned to India and TV news again in 2011, working as Senior Special Correspondent with the TV Today Network, based in Bangalore. As a bilingual resource, she doubled up to contribute to Aaj Tak in Hindi, while working primarily with Headlines Today in English. Main events covered include state elections in Kerala, the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Tamil Nadu, the death of Sai Baba and subsequent events from Puttaparthy, the prosecution of the sitting CM of Karnataka, Yeddyurappa for corruption in land deals, the raids and arrest of mining baron Janardhan Reddy from Bellary etc.
Elizabeth received training in broadcasting skills, including news-writing, interviewing and presentation, using self-op radio studios and digital editing at the BBC as well as at Doordarshan and All India Radio.
Before moving to India’s news-capital, New Delhi, Elizabeth spent more than 5 formative years in the Maximum City, Mumbai. Mumbai made the natural transition from Pune, where she acquired a Masters Degree in Communication Studies at Pune University. Earlier, she graduated in Psychology, English Literature and Journalism, from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, in 1995. Her first job was at Genesis Film Productions, where she had previously interned with Prahlad Kakar, assisting on making ad-films. She went on to work with other directors including Vikas Desai and Ajay Kartik, whom she assisted in the making of TV serials and documentaries. In 2000, when the internet boom began in India, Elizabeth changed tracks, to join Banyan Tree Communications run by Anish Trivedi and Dipika Roy. She began there as a Senior News Editor, presenter, handling political news in the South-Asian region, for an internet radio station, but went on to become a producer, presenter, web-content editor, and even wrote pilot scripts for fiction formats on radio.
Most recently, following a sabbatical to raise her child, she turned to flexitime work options. She worked as Senior Editor with Trans Asia News Service, which provides news and analysis from an Asian perspective to the world. She interviewed the Dalai Lama, in Dec 2015.
Most recently, she brought to bear her collective experience to manage the Communications and Media management services for Social Alpha, a Bangalore-based startup specialising in the ‘social business’ sector. Her work entailed content creation, copywriting for the Social Alpha website and related projects, PR and media relations, as well as communications strategy for internal and external stakeholders & events. Social Alpha is a Tata Trusts initiative.
